Etymological classes of French family names in historical development

The article is devoted to the research of the French surnames and has generalizing character. The system aspect is shown in revealing of etymological classes of surnames, in research of their variability and quantitative structure. Article purpose is to show extralinguistic conditionality of the given class of anthroponyms. At the heart of research the etymological analysis lays. Article urgency is defined by necessity of the complex description of the French surnames.